Joe Carroll caught a glimpse of the CSU-Pueblo football program four years ago when he was a freshman candidate to play on the offensive line out of Mullen High School.

Coach John Wristen was just getting started putting together a program that had been on the shelf from 1985-2007. It was the second season of the return of football to the southern Colorado campus.

Carroll gets another chance Saturday to see the ThunderWolves, but this time in uniform for Northern Colorado as a senior offensive lineman. Carroll, 6-foot-2, 280-pounds, and the Bears will host a CSU-Pueblo team that has grown up and become one of the most successful NCAA Division II programs in the country.

Carroll decided to move north after his first semester in Pueblo because of curriculum offerings at UNC.

“Greeley and Pueblo are similar in that both are laid-back towns,” Carroll said. “I enjoyed my time with the football team at CSU-Pueblo, but I decided my academic opportunities were more what I wanted at UNC.”

He’ll find out Saturday if UNC also offered better opportunities on the football field.

It’s a dangerous game for the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) Bears because CSU-Pueblo is playing up a level.

“Anytime you’re playing a team from within the state, it’s a rivalry,” Carroll said. “It’s a very important game for us.”

Carroll already has degrees in two of his three majors. His football days will be over when he earns his third degree. The challenge then will not be making first downs, but paying off student loans.

“I’m thinking about maybe teaching in China,” Carroll said. “I’d be interested in any area that would take me and my girlfriend. There are a lot of choices. Over there, a medium-size city has eight million people.”

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